


Blazing Heart (One Shot)

by YamaHikari



Category: King of Fighters
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Gen, Implied/Referenced Experimentation, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:14:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28601277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YamaHikari/pseuds/YamaHikari
Summary: Kyo, Benimaru, and Daimon investigate something strange beneath the KOF arena at Heidern's request.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 2





	Blazing Heart (One Shot)

**Author's Note:**

> This is something that I would one day like to turn into a full-length fanfiction. Since I have other projects I'd like to finish, this one's just staying a one shot for the time being.

The newly constructed KOF arena sat quiet and empty. It was late and all the matches had ended for the day. Within the venue was a series of concrete halls housing break rooms for the participating teams. 

Kyo wasn’t interested in any of that. What he was looking for was an out-of-the-way maintenance room. According to Heidern, the card key in his pocket would unlock it without tripping any alarms.

“What do you think’s down there?” Benimaru asked from a few steps behind Kyo.

When Kyo didn’t answer, Daimon said, “NESTS.”

Benimaru turned his head to give Daimon a pointed glare. “I mean what do you think they’re doing down there?” 

Kyo didn’t answer again, so Daimon said, “NESTS things.” 

Benimaru sighed, pulling his long blonde hair behind his ear. This time, he and Daimon exchanged worried looks.

“Hey, Kyo? Earth to Kyo.” Benimaru jogged forward a couple paces then leaned in to get a look at Kyo’s face. “You in there?”

Kyo shot him an annoyed glance before focusing back on the corridor ahead. “I’m not in the mood to talk.”

The trio continued on in silence for a few moments until Benimaru couldn’t help himself.

“You’re thinking about Shingo, aren’t you?”

In an instant, Kyo whirled around and caught Benimaru by the neck of his jacket, face contorted with rage.

Benimaru held his hands up in surrender. “Hey, calm down! I’m not trying to pick a fight with you!”

“Kyo.” 

Daimon rested a hand on Kyo’s shoulder. The creases around his eyebrows deepened just enough to show his worry. Kyo glared back at him, but his expression softened after a few seconds. He shoved Benimaru away and walked off. 

“Wait! Kyo!” Benimaru reached out and grabbed him by the arm, “Maybe you should sit this one out. Your mind’s not in the right place.”

Kyo ripped his arm out of Benimaru’s grasp, shouting, “I’ll be fine so drop it!”

Daimon stepped in again, “He’s right, you know. You need to be at your best. We don’t know what we’ll find down there.”

“I could burn this place to ashes in my sleep.”

“Sure, the clones or robots or whatever are a bunch of pushovers, but what about the new Kusanagi project Heidern talked about?” Benimaru waved his hands around to emphasize his point, “If NESTS’ new experiment is on par with K’ or Krizalid, it’s going to take all our strength to beat it!”

“All the more reason for me to go.” Kyo spat, then stormed off ahead of them. All Benimaru and Daimon could do was throw their hands in the air and follow after.

As he stomped down the dark halls, Kyo looked forward to seeing those NESTS bastards. He needed to set something on fire. Deep down, he knew he shouldn’t have exploded at Benimaru and Daimon the way he did. They were right about one thing: He was still bothered by Shingo’s disappearance a year ago. Accepting this mission from Heidern seemed like a good way to distract himself, but it weighed on his mind anyway.

Shingo could be summed up as “a good kid.” His enthusiasm and optimism allowed him to get along with even the most jaded of fighters. Though he had no special powers or abilities, he made up for it by never giving up, becoming an impressive fighter in his own right. When he disappeared, no one had any idea what could have happened. No one carried any grudge against him and his family never received a ransom. One day, he was just… gone.

Kyo searched everywhere, but without any leads, he was completely blind. After a few months, people started giving up. Even Shingo’s own family started believing that he died somewhere. But Kyo disappeared before. He knew better than to think someone was dead without seeing their corpse. Hell, even a corpse wouldn’t be enough proof.

But for now, he had an evil organization to raid.

They finally reached the maintenance door Heidern told them about. It was an unremarkable metal door, which unlocked with a little “beep” when Kyo used the key on the card swipe next to it. It led to a stairwell with a white, sterile aesthetic much different from the utilitarian halls of the arena.

He looked over his shoulder at his teammates, “Now’s the time to back out if you still think I’ll be dragging you down.”

“That isn’t what-” Benimaru pinched the bridge of his nose, “Fine, whatever. Let’s just take these guys down.” Daimon, with his arms folded, grunted in agreement.

At the bottom of the stairs was a large, empty room with nothing to indicate what it might be for. Kyo expected something else, like a maze of corridors lined with labs and other sciencey things. This room felt like a trap. It set him on edge.

Benimaru seemed to think the same, “I don’t like the look of this place…” Daimon grunted in agreement again.

A heavy slam echoed throughout the room. The trio whirled around to find the entrance sealed shut. 

“Shit, it was a trap…” Kyo muttered. 

“Heidern must not think much of me to send only three men.”

Kyo recognized that voice. He turned back around and sneered. “Can’t you just stay dead?”

In the center of the room glowed the flickering, holographic form of Igniz. He stared down the bridge of his nose with disappointment.

“You’ll regret looking down on us.” With a flick of his wrists and the crackling of static, Benimaru’s hair stood upright like a pillar. He adopted a fighting stance, Daimon following soon after.

Kyo, however, raised his chin to glare back at Igniz. Though his hands stayed in his pockets, he was ready to turn this room into an inferno at a moment’s notice. “So are you going to show up and fight us or are you just wasting our time?”

Igniz’s mouth curled into a smirk. “Neither. I knew Ikari would send someone to infiltrate this meager base so I had a little experiment prepared, though I hardly expected Team Japan to make an appearance. Having the heir of the true Kusanagi bloodline participate should yield interesting results…”

“The hell are you talking about?!” 

After Kyo’s exclamation, Igniz raised one hand and snapped his fingers. The hologram shut off then the door beyond it hissed open, revealing a figure covered in shadow.

Igniz continued to talk through hidden speakers, “Allow me to present our new Kusanagi genetic experiment, K Dash-Two!”

The figure, this “K Dash-Two,” stepped forward into the light of the room. He wore a black hood and short cape over a tight, purple suit similar to the ones worn by other NESTS agents. His face was covered by a mask. His hands were both fitted with white gauntlets Kyo assumed functioned the same as K’s glove. They still couldn’t perfect the art of Kusanagi genetics. Kyo felt insulted that Igniz considered another failed guinea pig to be more than a match for Team Japan combined.

Whatever. He’ll make this quick. 

“Now… Don’t hold anything back.”

No sooner than Igniz finished speaking, K’’ vanished. Confused, Kyo hesitated. His instincts screamed at him and he leapt to the side. K’’s fiery punch scraped his arm. Leaving Kyo no time to recover, K’’ swung his leg around in a high kick. It struck Kyo in the shoulder. Then K’’s knee darted out, ramming Kyo in the gut.

“Raijinken!”

Benimaru threw out an electrified fist, but K’’ ducked, spun, and uppercutted him all in one smooth motion. 

Daimon snatched him by the back of his cloak and swung him in an arc. Before hitting the ground, K’’ flipped and slammed down feet first. He seized Daimon by the arm, throwing him across the room. As Daimon flew through the air, Kyo suddenly recognized his intent and rushed to Benimaru. The second his hands met the ground in a mighty Jiraishin, Kyo and Benimaru were airborne. 

...And so was K’’.

He bore down on Daimon with a flying kick, then leapt back. With Daimon disoriented, he was free to unleash a brutal series of punches and kicks.

With one arm holding up Benimaru, Kyo swung out the other, shooting a spark of flame across the floor. “Yami Barai!”

K’’ spun around, swinging his own arm to unleash a Yami Barai. The two flames met and burst in a deafening explosion, the resulting shockwaves pushing everyone away.

In the fallout, everything was still. K’’, who’s hood had been blown back to reveal his short, white-streaked brown hair, seemed to be surveying the situation while Kyo, Benimaru, and Daimon were reeling from what just happened. Rather than surveying, Kyo noticed, K’’ seemed fixated on him, like he was the biggest threat in the room. Probably because of their fiery exchange mere seconds ago. 

Kyo didn’t feel so confident anymore.

Benimaru finally found his footing. In a frantic whisper, he said, “It's like he knows exactly how we're going to attack! How are we supposed to fight something like this?!"

“Overwhelm him?” Kyo shrugged, “He can’t counter all of us at once.”

“That’s as good an idea as any,” Benimaru didn’t sound too pleased with it, but he didn’t suggest anything else, “We need to get to Goro first.” 

"I'll distract this knock-off bastard while you go get Goro. Then you two can jump in whenever."

"Alright. Let's make a break for it on three… One... Two... Three!"

Kyo and Benimaru broke into a run. As expected, K'' only showed interest in Kyo. When he vanished, Kyo was prepared, diving into a forward roll that got him away from K''s punch unscathed. While leaping out of the roll, Kyo turned and skidded to a halt.

K’’ leapt towards him, one leg shooting out in a strong kick. Kyo deflected it with one arm while the other swung into K’’s side. K’’ flew to the side but quickly recovered, pressing Kyo with attack after attack at insane speeds. As he blocked and parried, Kyo realized the style he was up against wasn’t the pure, traditional Kusanagi style nor was it his own. It was a mix of Kusanagi and something familiar. With the blows raining down on him, Kyo didn’t have time to figure it out.

“Kyo!”

Rather than block again, Kyo caught K’’s fist in his hand, giving Benimaru an opening. He spin-kicked K’’ in the head, launching him to the side, then following up with a Raikouken to the chest. He landed on the ground, stunned. Immediately after, Daimon grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and swung him overhead back into the ground. He adjusted his grip and swung him back, throwing him to Kyo.

As the body flew through the air, Kyo pulled back a flaming hand.

“Eat this!”

K’’ took a direct hit from a fully charged Orochinagi. He rocketed through the air, engulfed in flames. With a deafening slam, he hit the wall and slid to the floor.

Not wanting to give him a chance to recover, Kyo dashed in again with a strike aimed at the face. K’’ looked up at him with wide, glassy eyes. His mask had been knocked away in the fighting.

When their eyes met, Kyo faltered. He drove his fist into the wall at the last second. The flames flickered and dissipated as he stared slack-jawed at “K Dash-Two.”

He couldn’t even process what he was seeing.

“Kyo! What are you doing!?”

Before he even thought to say something, K’’ headbutted Kyo in the nose and followed up with an elbow slam to the stomach, knocking him backwards. Benimaru shouted as he and Daimon ran to defend him. Both of them stopped short when they saw K’’s face.

“This can’t be…” Daimon’s eyes opened wide. 

Benimaru looked horrified. “What kind of sick joke is this?!”

Kyo’s voice caught in his throat. He choked on the name:

“Shingo…”

Finally, they found him. After an entire year, they found him.

Brainwashed and experimented on until he became a cold, unfeeling fighter.

“Shingo…? Shingo, is that really you? What happened?" Kyo struggled to his feet. "What'd they do to you?"

Igniz's voice echoed through the room, "We made a few modifications. He’s far stronger than he could ever hope to become on his own. Really, he ought to be thanking us for gifting him with the Kusanagi flames.”

“Shut up, you bastard!!” Kyo looked wildly about the room, trying to find the source of the sound. “Shingo was working towards those flames on his own! He’d never want it to be like this!”

“That boy has no latent power or ability. Trying to ‘unlock’ the Kusanagi flames when he isn’t even of the right blood is a fool's errand.”

Suddenly, Daimon interjected, “Then why Shingo?! If he has no powers, why take an interest in him?”

“For his mind. He holds extensive knowledge of fighters and their styles, with hardly any programming necessary on our part.” Igniz let out a condescending chuckle, “With just a few enhancements, he has become an efficient killer.”

“ _ Shingo’s not a killer!! _ ” Kyo screamed. His flames activated in response to his mounting rage. They burned with such intensity, the hems of his sleeves blackened.

Just as Benimaru was about to speak, Igniz cut him off, “Is that so? How about we ask him then. K’’.”

Shingo stood stiff at attention. Team Japan felt nauseous when he robotically said, “Yes, Lord Igniz.”

“What is your purpose?”  
Without an ounce of hesitation, Shingo responded, “To serve Lord Igniz.”

"And tell me, what are the orders we gave you?”

“To kill Kyo Kusanagi and the intruders.”

Kyo’s flames fizzled out. Despair gripped him as everything flipped on its head.

_ Kill me? Shingo? _

_ Never  _ would Shingo  _ ever _ say that. 

“Now, K’’, burn these  _ pests _ to ashes.”

At Igniz’s command, K’’ adopted a fighting stance--Shingo’s fighting stance, Kyo realized, with all the happy energy sucked out of it--then stood stock-still. His eyes shifted from fighter to fighter, scrutinizing their every move. Now that the element of surprise was gone, he seemed to take a more defensive approach.

Kyo, however, was frozen in place. Too much information hit him at once and now his brain ran wild with all of it. What  _ exactly _ had they done to Shingo to make him like this? What kind of horrible tortures did he go through? What did NESTS even use him for? The very idea of forcing Shingo to kill turned Kyo’s stomach. And the cruelty of turning him against his friends…

Wild sparks danced from Kyo’s fingertips. He swore  _ he would raze the entire arena to the ground _ -

_ Slap! _

Kyo brought a hand to his stinging cheek, then glared at Benimaru, “What the hell-”

“Kyo Kusanagi, listen to me!” Benimaru snatched Kyo by the neck of his shirt, “If you don’t get your act together right now, we won’t be able to get Shingo out of here!" Then his voice dropped to an urgent whisper, "And we  _ are _ getting him out of here!"

As Kyo stared at Benimaru, he realized that beneath his determined expression, Benimaru hid his uncertainty. Kyo felt it too; they knew too little to form a real plan of action. They didn’t even know Shingo’s full capabilities. 

But they couldn’t let that stop them. Not with a friend’s life on the line.

The angry sparks died down. Vengeance could come later. For now, Kyo’s resolve to save Shingo bolstered his flames.

Benimaru noticed the change. “Calmed down?”

“Yeah, so you can let go of me now.”

With a smirk, Benimaru released Kyo, adopting his fighting stance right after. “You got a plan, oh fearless leader?”

Kyo raised his fists, prepared to strike. A glance at the battlefield told him that Shingo was only respectful of Benimaru’s “pep talk” because Daimon stood like a stone wall between them. Any surprise attack attempts would have been thwarted by a harsh grab. 

“Hit hard and fast to keep him on the defensive. The second he slips up, I’ll hit him with everything I’ve got.” 

“Alright!”

“Hm!”

Kyo leapt ahead of them, fists blazing as he rained blow after blow on Shingo. Shingo deflected each hit with his gauntlets, but Kyo still pushed him back. With one large step, Kyo swung his fist overhead in an explosive Aragami, but Shingo saw through it. He stepped out of the way, leaving Kyo vulnerable to attack.

Shingo didn’t get his chance as Benimaru swooped in, forcing him back into defensive position. He followed the same pattern as Kyo: constant attacks that kept Shingo on guard. The moment Benimaru left himself open, Daimon took over.

Again, Shingo drew back, weaving left and right to dodge Daimon’s reaching hands. However, he suddenly rolled past Daimon. While crouched, he tensed his leg muscles to reverse directions and attack, but Benimaru was already onto him. 

He lashed out with a “Raijinken!” which Shingo only had a millisecond to avoid. As he jumped away, Kyo flew at him with an arcing R.E.D kick. The heel of Kyo’s shoe dug into Shingo’s back and launched him into the ground. 

When he didn’t get up right away, Kyo saw his chance.

Drawing one arm back, Kyo lit it with a bright, concentrated flame. The moment Shingo pushed himself up, Kyo leapt forward. 

“Buuuurn!!”

Shingo raised his arms on instinct, taking on the full brunt of the blazing Totsuka. The flames burst on impact, sending him flying across the room into the wall. He hit it with a loud thump then slid to the floor in a heap.

The room fell silent. Japan Team watched Shingo with nervous anticipation. For one long pause, Shingo didn’t so much as twitch. Kyo feared he overdid it.

Then a spark.

Everyone jumped back into their fighting stances. A small flame started growing from Shingo’s hand. Then from the other. Shingo lifted both hands in front of him, and Kyo noticed something peculiar. It was the first shred of emotion Kyo had seen on his face since the fight began: Fear.

Without warning, Shingo’s hands  _ exploded _ into flames. They thrashed and billowed in a wild bonfire that engulfed him. Benimaru and Daimon readied themselves for an attack, but Kyo knew there’d never be one.

When the screaming started, Kyo took action.

He ran headlong into the flames, ignoring Benimaru and Daimon’s shouts, with his own flames ready to protect himself. He snatched up both of Shingo’s arms, trying to fight fire with fire. Shingo’s screams did not ease, and despite the power of his own flames, Kyo’s hands began feeling uncomfortably hot.

“Another failure. How disappointing. We had such high hopes for this one...” Rather than disappointed, Igniz sounded disgusted.

“No!” Shingo screamed, “Lord Igniz, please!”

Kyo wished Igniz was in the room right then so he could beat the shit out of his smug ass. That could wait, he had to remind himself, Shingo needed help  _ now _ . 

“Don’t listen to him! Just focus on me, okay?!” Kyo shouted, but Shingo fought harder against his grip. The heat on his hands started to sting.

“We have no use for any of you alive, so we look forward to dissecting your corpses.”

A hissing filled the room, though Kyo barely heard it over the roaring flames and Shingo’s screams.

Benimaru figured it out immediately. “Shit, it’s gas! Goro, the door!” 

As if on cue, before Daimon could even attempt to pry it open, the metal doors blew off their frames. To everyone’s surprise, Maxima rushed in and made a beeline for Kyo and Shingo.

“Kyo! Hold his arms still!”

“Wha- Maxima?!”

“No time to explain, just hold him still!” 

Kyo complied. The stinging grew into a burning across all the nerves in his hands. Holding a panicked Shingo was already hard enough. Now Kyo could barely hold on at all.

It didn’t seem to bother Maxima. With a whole assortment of little tools emerging from his fingers, he set to work repairing the gauntlets on Shingo’s hands. 

The smell of burning flesh filled Kyo’s nostrils but he couldn’t guess who’s it was. He  _ did _ know that his hands were starting to hurt like hell. He willed his flames to burn brighter, hoping that would prevent the skin from melting off his bones. Shingo bucked against his grip.

“I’m almost done, so keep him still.” Maxima said in a level voice, far more calm than Kyo expected.

Kyo grunted in annoyance, “He’s not making this any easier.”

“Try talking to him, that might calm him- Done.” The flames coming from Shingo’s hand flickered out like a choked candle wick. Maxima gestured to Kyo. “The other one.”

Shingo’s cries quieted to pained grunts and whimpers. Kyo almost lost his grasp of Shingo’s jerking and twisting arm, but he still managed to pull it over to Maxima. 

“Hey, Shingo… K Dash-Two,” Shingo looked at Kyo with bleary, unfocused eyes. A part of Kyo wanted to vomit saying that name, but if that’s what it took to get his attention, so be it. “We’re trying to help you, alright? So me and Maxima are gonna need you to stop moving.”

Now Shingo looked scared  _ and _ confused. “I have to kill you… I have to...” 

Kyo bit back an angry reply, though he couldn’t keep it all out of his voice, “Igniz left you for dead. There’s no reason to follow his orders anymore.”

“I-I serve Lord Igniz,” Shingo started struggling again, “I must kill Kyo Kusanagi!”

“Kyo! You’re supposed to calm him down!” Maxima was losing his patience as more and more of his synthetic skin dripped onto the floor. 

“I’m trying!” Kyo tried thinking up something else to say, “Look, you can kill me after Maxima fixes your glove, alright? Just calm down!”

Some level of understanding seemed to reach him and Shingo stopped fighting. That didn’t stop his whimpering. Kyo couldn’t blame him for that, his own hands throbbed with fiery pain.

“Breathe with me. In… and out… In… and out… Yeah, that’s it.” As Kyo guided Shingo through breathing, it seemed to ease the creases in his face (and it helped Kyo with his pain too). 

Then Kyo felt woozy. His grip weakened. An absent thought in his brain said something about gas.

Kyo blacked out.

* * *

Kyo woke up a day later in an Ikari military hospital. According to Benimaru, Maxima had been monitoring the operation on Ikari’s behalf, and he was the one who dragged him and an unconscious Shingo out of that room. If it wasn’t for Maxima’s first aid, both of them probably would have suffered permanent lung damage. He was still going to have some impressive burn scars on his hands, unfortunately.

Shingo, on the other hand, remained in a medically induced coma for another week as Ikari and Maxima worked to figure out what NESTS stuffed inside him and how much of it they could get out safely. It took a lot of convincing on Kyo’s part to get permission to visit after Shingo woke up. Even if they told him no, Kyo would have broken in anyway. The only reason they allowed it was because Maxima promised to chaperone.

He visited the day after Shingo awoke, Benimaru and Daimon in tow. They all felt anxious about Shingo’s condition, especially Kyo. He thought back to a week before, when Shingo, despite teetering on the verge of  _ burning to death _ , worried more about his orders than his survival. It made Kyo’s chest tighten in an uncomfortable way, almost like grief.

The room Ikari kept Shingo in was more like a lab than Kyo would have liked. Computer monitors lined the walls, glowing with graphics and text Kyo could never hope to decipher. Each desk was a mess of papers, books, and glassware. A wheeled cart had been pushed off into a corner with a covered metal tray sitting on top. He vaguely recognized it as something out of a medical drama.

Off in another corner was a hospital bed flanked by a variety of monitors and an IV drip, all of which connected to Shingo. He laid there in a light blue hospital gown, his upper body elevated by the slight angle of the bed. A strap over his torso tethered him down, along with restraints on each gloved hand. If there were others, they were hidden beneath a felt blanket pulled up to his abdomen. He stared blank-eyed at a random spot on the ceiling. At no point did he acknowledge Kyo, Benimaru, Daimon, and Maxima’s arrival, not even with a twitch or a glance. If he weren’t breathing, it would have seemed like he was a corpse.

Even when Kyo cleared his throat, he got no response. He started talking past the lump in his throat, “Hey, Shingo. Remember me? It’s Kyo.”

Shingo didn’t even blink. 

Already, frustration crept into his voice, “What, you still only answer to ‘K Dash Two’?”

“Watch it, Kyo.” Benimaru hissed. A second later, Shingo turned his head. His hands jerked at the restraints when he saw Kyo but his expression stayed empty.

“You drug him or something?” Kyo gave Maxima an angry glare, who was not fazed in the least.

“He’s on pain medication at a very low dosage. More importantly, we don’t know the full extent of NESTS experimentation, including what methods they used to brainwash him.” Maxima’s face darkened, “In other words, there’s no way of knowing just how much  _ psychological _ damage he’s sustained. He isn’t going to return to ‘normal’ for a long time, if he ever does.”

The air grew heavy as he explained. Benimaru and Daimon looked solemn in their melancholy but not Kyo. His teeth ground together, his anger mounting at the thought of all the  _ shit _ NESTS kept pulling. He was  _ sick _ and  _ tired _ of them dragging innocent people into their ego-driven schemes. 

Kyo swore he’d get the real Shingo Yabuki back no matter what.

“He’s gotta remember something,” Kyo leaned in and took hold of Shingo’s shoulders, looking him square in the eyes, “Don’t you remember anything before NESTS? Doesn’t the name Shingo Yabuki ring a bell?”

Before Benimaru or Daimon could intervene, Shingo plainly stated, “Those memories are defects.”

The temperature of the room seemed to drop in an instant. Even Maxima was disturbed by this turn of events.

“Those are  _ your  _ memories!  _ You are  _ Shingo Yabuki!”

“I am K’’.”

Kyo’s grip on his shoulders tightened. “No,  _ you are Shingo _ .”

There was a shift in Shingo’s expression. His voice wavered, “I-I am K’’.”

“Kyo, that’s enough-”

“Your name is Shingo Yabuki. You love chocolate and figurines and you can’t stand milk-”

“No, I-”

“You’ve been training for years as my disciple and my friend!”

Shingo looked distraught, “I’m not-”

“Kyo!”

He ignored Daimon and Benimaru’s pleas and continued pressing Shingo, “You’ve got a mom and a dad and two sisters who are worried about you!”

"No-"

" _ You are Shingo! _ "

" _ Stop it! _ " Shingo screamed, "I am not Shingo Yabuki! I am K'' and I am loyal to Lord Igniz!"

The room fell into a shocked silence. Kyo pulled his hands away, dragging as if they were anchors on the seafloor. Shingo tried to curl in on himself despite the restraints. When he spoke again, his voice was quiet, quivering on the brink of tears.

"Please, you don't- I don't need to be tested anymore, I am- I am loyal to Lord Igniz so please," His shoulders shook and his voice cracked as he whispered, "Don't send me back for readjustment."

The way he said "readjustment" sent a chill down Kyo's spine. One of the monitors started screeching, ruining Kyo's chance to respond.

"His body temperature-!" Maxima exclaimed before looking at Kyo, his eyes deadly serious. "You've done enough damage for one day. Everybody out! Now!"

"What!?" Kyo turned to Maxima poised for a fight, "You think I'm just gonna- Goro, put me down! Goro!!"

With Kyo kicking and screaming like a child throwing a tantrum, Daimon hoisted him over his shoulder and made his way to the exit. Benimaru followed shortly after offering Maxima a brief apology.

Only when the door clicked shut did Daimon finally set the indignant Kyo down. He would have stormed back in at that moment if it weren’t for the equally-upset Benimaru standing in his way.

“What the hell was that?” Benimaru said in the tone of an enraged parent. “Did you not hear Goro and I telling you to stop?”

Kyo snarled back, “He was starting to remember! If I had a little more time-”  
“You were putting him under psychological pressure! Did you miss the part where his body _literally_ started to overheat?!” 

When Kyo opened his mouth, he found he had nothing to retort with. “I just…”

“Kyo,” Daimon said, stern yet worried, “This is not a matter of whether Shingo remembers or not. NESTS has conditioned him to believe that his memories are false. We cannot force him to accept that.”

“And what if he chooses to be some NESTS drone for the rest of his life, huh?”

“Both the mind and body take time to heal. We must believe that Shingo will find himself again. Until that day comes, all we can do is support him.” Daimon rested a fatherly hand on Kyo’s shoulder.

Kyo clenched his teeth. There was no fighting their way out of this. Beating NESTS into the ground wouldn’t make Shingo better. He dropped his head with a sigh.

His best friend was hurting and there was nothing he could do.

Kyo thought back to the way Shingo so adamantly denied his identity. How he believed he was being tested. And the consequences for failing...

_ Readjustment… _

The way Shingo uttered that word, the fear in his voice… NESTS didn’t just experiment on him, they  _ tortured _ him. The realization rekindled the fire boiling Kyo’s blood. It set his teeth back on edge.

Both Daimon and Benimaru noticed the dark change in Kyo’s demeanor and exchanged nervous glances.

Maybe burying NESTS in a fiery grave wouldn’t fix Shingo, but it sure would make Kyo feel better. He spoke again in a low whisper, eyes blazing a hole into the ground at his feet.

“...I am going to find every last NESTS base and I am going to kill everyone inside.  _ I swear it. _ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Shingo :' (
> 
> I hope the action was understandable and that I didn't mess up Kyo's characterization too badly. Writing fight scenes is kinda new to me.


End file.
